Gameplay in Saki
This page contains more detailed rules, some of which have already come up in Saki. There are other rules of rīchi mahjong that are likely used in the Sakiverse but have not been shown, either because they haven't come up yet or because they are too mundane. There are also rules that may never show up because there are variations of rīchi mahjong and non-''rīchi'' mahjong. More detailed rules Terminology Winning hands have to be complete and have at least one yaku. A complete hand consists of four completed melds and a pair. A hand can be complete and not have a yaku. A hand can be incomplete and have a yaku, like ''huanpai/yakuhai''. And a hand can be incomplete and not have a yaku. Each players' position relative to one another is the player's seat-wind. The east seat-wind player starts each hand and receives or pays extra depending on who wins. To the right of the east seat-wind player is the south seat-wind player. Opposite of the east seat-wind player is the west seat-wind player. And to the left of the east seat-wind player is the north seat-wind player. These other seating positions also affect scoring to a lesser degree. Note that these positions don't match compass directions, but mirror them. (The players at the four seating positions are sometimes referred to as East, South, West, and North, as if a person is a direction. The east seat-wind player is also sometimes referred to as the dealer, although she doesn't deal tiles to other players.) Each round has an accompanying prevailing-wind. The first round is the east prevailing-wind. The second round is the south prevailing-wind. The third round is the west prevailing-wind, but it is only played under special circumstances. Prevailing-winds also affect scoring. (See the team tournmanent section below for a definition of a round. The rounds are sometimes referred to as East or South, as if a period of time is a direction.) Both the seat-wind and the prevailing-wind have an [[Mahjong yaku#Yaku worth one han|associated yaku]] and some players have special abilities tied to these winds. Team tournament A team tournament consists of several tournament rounds. :A (team) tournament round consists of one or more matches. ::A (team) match usually consists of five battles. :::A battle consists of one or two hanchan games. ("Match" is often used instead of battle, with a team match consisting of five sub-matches.) ::::A game usually consists of two prevailing wind rounds. ("Hanchan" or "east-south rounds" is often used instead of game.) :::::A round usually consists of four seat-wind rotations. (The Saki anime, the European Mahjong Association, and the Mahjong articles at Wikipedia use this definition of a round.) ::::::A rotation usually consists of one hand, but may include additional hands due to east seat-wind repeats. (The Achiga-hen anime and the mangas call this a "round" instead of a rotation, and don't use a proper term for a rotation and a round.) :::::::A hand usually consists of multiple go-arounds. (The Achiga-hen anime and the mangas also call this a "round" instead of a hand, and thus are confusing when there is a need to discuss both the rotation and the hand.) ::::::::A go-around usually consists of four turns, but may be interrupted when a player calls a tile or declares a kan. :::::::::A turn usually includes one draw and one discard. Matches, battles, games, and rounds usually end with the last seat-wind rotation, but may end sooner when a player goes below zero points. Reading a hand Besides the ''shanten'' number, players look for [[Mahjong yaku|various yaku]] that their hands will potentially have. They sense how likely they are to win a hand and how many points it'll be worth, and decide how aggressively they will attack or defend. Beginning players, like Kaori Senoo in the Nagano Prefecturals, mostly concentrate on completing their hands until they master more advanced yaku. They will often keep their hands closed so that they can get a late yaku by rīchi or menzen tsumo, the former allowing a player to win by ron while the latter by itself does not. At any given time, a hand will usually have multiple tiles that will improve the hand. These tiles are called waits. Hands can be improved by (1) moving one step closer to winning (reducing the shanten number), (2) increasing the potential value of the hand, or (3) by increasing the chances of (1) or (2) occurring. Waits may refer to either the number of different kinds of tiles or the total number of instances of those tiles. For example, ... When playing defense, (4) drawing less risky tiles to discard in a sense can improve a hand, but they aren't referred to as waits. Game play There are many different styles of playing mahjong. Internet players try to maximize the expected values of their hand. Skilled players. Players with special senses. Players with special abilities ... More about chī, pon, and kan Players will call discarded tiles to further the completion of their hand and possibly increase its value. However, calling tiles may devalue a hand, it automatically reveals information and reduces defensive options, and it often reduces the chances of further improving the hand. Players with special senses will often call a tile in order to shift who draws certain tiles from the wall. A call will always change the order of who draws the next tile from the wall. Less powerful but crafty players will call to intentionally reveal information about their hand, hoping that others will play into their low scoring hand rather than allowing a dangerous player more turns to complete a high scoring hand. Calling only in order to skip another player's turn has rarely been seen. A player who calls a tile places the meld to her right with the tiles face up. The called tile is placed sideways in the position that shows (1) for chī, which tile was called, or (2) for pon and kan, from whom the tile was taken from. When a player declares a kan to form an open kan, the self-drawn tile is placed next to the sideways tile of her open triplet along the longer side. Calling kan (for a discard) to add to an open triplet is not allowed. When a player declares a kan to form a closed kan, all four tiles are revealed and then the two outer tiles are turned over. If the player doesn't win by ''rinshan kaihō'', she places the kan to her right. Aborted hands, chombo, and etiquette Players rarely break the rules and they don't try to cheat. Exceptions ... Maho Yumeno comes close to being penalized with a dead hand in a training camp game. Hisa Takei is sometimes considered to have bad table manners ... when she was younger, Hajime Kunihiro switched her self-drawn tile with a tile in the pond. Hand was disqualified, chombo penalty ... Game continuance When more than one player wins a hand, the east seat-wind player still repeats as east seat-wind if she is one of the winners, and places a counter on the table. Variations Mako Someya's mahjong cafe/parlor and the elementary mahjong club sponsored by Harue Akada round a hand worth 7700 points up 8000 points. Interlinks * Mahjong in Saki * Scoring in mahjong * Mahjong yaku * Mahjong * Sakiverse Mahjong links ; European Mahjong Association website : The riichi mahjong PDF contains detailed rules and terminology. A previous version was used by Crunchyroll's Saki anime translator. ; Wikipedia's Japanese mahjong page ; Crunchyroll's Achiga-hen anime forum : Member edsamac makes detailed reviews of the mahjong hands shown in the Achiga-hen anime. The comments are somewhat error filled though. ; Mahjong Wiki's Riichi competition rules page ; How to Play page of the Cambridge University Riichi Mahjong Society ; http://kafkafuura.wordpress.com/japanese-mahjong/ References Category:Mahjong